DirecTV on Thursday said it is reorganizing the company into a simpler structure that will feature three operating divisions, including one to be headed by Fox Sports Chairman and CEO David Hill.
As part of the changes, the company, whose official name is DirecTV Group, now will refer to itself as DirecTV Inc. and comprised three divisions-DirecTV Entertainment, DirecTV Latin America and New Enterprises and DirecTV Sales and Service. Before Thursday’s announcement, DirecTV Inc. was the name used for the satellite company’s United States operations.
Mr. Hill will become president of DirecTV Entertainment, with responsibility for programming and original content as well as integrating new technologies into the satellite service. He will also be in charge of DirecTV’s advertising sales efforts.
Mr. Hill joins DirecTV after 10 years at Fox, most recently serving as chief executive for Fox Sports. Before that Mr. Hill spent five years at British Sky Broadcasting. As part of his new role, Mr. Hill will become nonexecutive chairman of Fox Sports, enabling him to work toward integrating Fox sports content into DirecTV’s service offering.
The reorganization also saw Bruce Churchill named as full-time president of DirecTV Latin America. Before Thursday’s appointment, Mr. Churchill split his time between serving as DirecTV Latin America’s president and serving as chief financial officer of DirecTV Group.
With Mr. Churchill going full-time over the DirecTV Latin America, Mike Palkovic, who had been CFO of DirecTV’s U.S. operations, will now become CFO of the entire company.
The company also appointed John Suranyi, formerly DirecTV’s executive VP of customer satisfaction, to president of DirecTV Sales and Service, with responsibility for customer service, installations and call centers.
The changes come just weeks after Mitchell Stern stepped down as president of DirecTV’s U.S. operations.
DirecTV Announces Executive Appointments
Mar 17, 2005 • Post A Comment